Synopsis of After Life
Written by Brandee Mode
Previously on Buffy, Spike chained Buffy up in "Crush," but she told him he had no chance with her. Buffy jumped into the portal and died. Her friends were sad. Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya schemed to raise Buffy from the grave, in part because of Willow's conviction that Buffy's soul was trapped in Hell. The spell to bring the Slayer back works, but Buffy is addled and scared. "You're alive and you're home," sniffles Dawn. Buffy looks blank.
We start where we left off, at the end of "Bargaining, Part Two." The Scooby gang hurries down an alley in search of Buffy. They are worrying about where she went. They decide she must have gone home.
XANDER: "Don't worry ladies, I'll get us there, just fine. My senses are primed for danger. Nothing is gonna..."
A biker-demon rides by on his motorcycle and startles Xander.
ANYA: "At least the demons almost hit you on the way OUT of town..."
The gang wonders if they actually saw Buffy, and whether she was brought back "broken." Willow is vehement that Buffy is fine, but is probably "disoriented" from her experiences in Hell. Tara worries that perhaps Buffy is now dangerous.
Buffy and Dawn are on the sidewalk, in front of the Summers' house. Dawn gently tells Buffy that she's home and Buffy just stares, with a look of confusion on her face.
OPENING CREDITS
Inside the house, Buffy blinks when Dawn turns on a light. Buffy slowly turns, looking around the room.
BUFFY: "It's different."
Dawn, frantic to please starts to babble, telling Buffy that Willow & Tara have moved in and mentions interior decorating changes they've made. Buffy notices a picture of her mom and then silently walks into the dining room. Dawn follows her, still babbling. Her sister gives her that crinkled-brow look and heads upstairs as Dawn chatters.
A little while later, Dawn and Buffy are in the bathroom. Buffy has changed her clothes and her hair is in a pony-tail now. Dawn wets a washcloth in the sink and gently wipes some dirt off Buffy's neck, crooning to her like a mother to a child. Dawn tries to crack a joke, but Buffy doesn't respond; she just stares into the mirror. Dawn suggests that Buffy button up her shirt and then notices Buffy's bloody, damaged hands. Dawn promises to bandage her sister's hands and then starts buttoning up her shirt. Buffy suddenly turns and walks away, into what was Joyce's room. She looks around at the changes that Willow and Tara's have made. Dawn tries to explain why the witches have taken that room, but when Buffy wanders off again, she follows her and urgently asks,
DAWN: "Buffy? Do you want to stop? We can sit down and talk."
Buffy is still not making eye contact and eventually says,
BUFFY: "What else is different?"
Dawn struggles to understand if Buffy means in the house or in general, and then tells her that Giles left. A door open downstairs, and then Spike yells out,
SPIKE: "Dawn! Dawn, are you there?"
Dawn calls back and heads downstairs. Because he's been so worried, Spike rants,
SPIKE: "Thank God. You scared me half to death, (he mutters: "or more to death", he points at Dawn as she comes down the stairs) You. I could kill you. I mean it. I could rip your head off one-handed and drink from your brain-stem." (Didn't really need that image)
Dawn gestures at Buffy descending the stairs; at first Spike thinks it's the Buffybot. Realization that Buffy has come back slowly creeps over his face; he is completely shocked. Buffy ducks her head shyly and finishes buttoning up her shirt. Spike wants to know what Dawn did to bring Buffy back (probably thinking back to when Dawn tried to bring Joyce back). Dawn insists she had nothing to do with this. Spike notices Buffy's hands (she quickly hides them) Dawn says she doesn't know how they got that way. Spike says he knows she...
SPIKE: "...clawed her way out of her coffin. I know, I've done it myself." He gazes at her and then shakes himself, instructing Dawn to get some disinfectant and bandages. He gingerly starts to guide Buffy to the sofa with his hand, but then jerks it away.
Sitting in the living room, Spike sits across from Buffy, holding her hands gently. She asks how long she was gone and he promptly replies,
SPIKE: "One hundred and forty-seven days yesterday. One hundred and forty-eight today. But today doesn't count does it." It's more of a statement than a question. He asks Buffy how long it was for her.
BUFFY: "Longer."
As Dawn brings the bandages into the room, Tara, Willow, Anya, and Xander rush into the house. They surround Buffy and begin asking questions. Spike gets up and leaves without saying anything. No one notices. Inside, Dawn asks how the gang knew Buffy was back, but they ignore her and continue to ask Buffy a bunch of questions. Dawn demands they back off and realizes that Willow is the one responsible for her sister's return. Buffy assures everyone she's okay, but doesn't want to talk about her experience; Xander offers to bring food, but Buffy seems overwhelmed and says she just wants to go to bed. Willow agrees but adds,
WILLOW: "But, Buffy, be happy. We got you out. We really did it." She smiles.
ANYA: "Jet lag from hell has got to be, you know, jet lag from hell."
Buffy deflects any more questions and asks Dawn if her room is till the same. Later, Anya and Xander leave the Summers' home. Anya insists that Buffy is not normal and that Willow is wrong. They hear a noise, and we see Spike lurking behind a tree. He quickly wipes the tears from his face. Xander starts to get an attitude...
XANDER: "I hope you're not going to start your little obsession now that she's around again."
Spike grabs Xander and, (possibly wincing in pain), slams him up against the tree. He's angry that the gang didn't tell him about their plans to reincarnate Buffy. Xander doesn't have much of an explanation. Spike is visibly upset as he insists that Willow knew Buffy might come back "wrong" and have to be destroyed, and as Spike wouldn't not have let that happen, Willow shut him out. Xander expresses disbelief that Willow would act that way.
XANDER (to Spike): "Look me in the eyes and tell me that seeing Buffy alive wasn't the happiest moment of your entire existence."
Spike looks Xander in the eyes, but then stomps off to his motorcycle, saying...
SPIKE: "That's the thing about magic, there's always consequences. Always."
Upstairs, Buffy stands in her dark room and stares at herself in the mirror.
Down the hall, Willow and Tara get ready for bed; Willow says she called Giles and he'll be heading back as soon as he can. (I wish they had shown us that.) Willow assures Tara that everything is fine, she's not worried, but Tara urges her to share her real feelings. Closing the door, Willow muses about how intense the experience must have been for Buffy, and how Angel came back "wild" after he was in hell. They lie in bed, and Tara hugs Willow to help stop the "noise" in her head. Stroking Tara's arm, Willow finally gets to the heart of her feelings --
WILLOW: "If things did go right, wouldn't you think she'd be... happier? Wouldn't you think she'd be so happy that we brought her out?"
TARA: "You thought she'd say thanks, be more grateful."
WILLOW: "Would I be a terrible person if I said yes?"
TARA: "Give her time. She'll get there."
We see Buffy sitting on the edge of her bed. (I'm not sure if that's supposed to mean that Buffy could overhear their whole conversation or if it simply means Buffy can't get to sleep.) She picks up a framed picture of her, Willow, and Xander and then sets it down again. Then she looks at her mirror, which is decorated with happy pictures of her and the gang. As she stares, the little faces in the pictures suddenly become skulls. Buffy blinks and the pictures go back to normal.
Something glass breaks right over the sleeping Willow and Tara. They wake and see what looks like Buffy at the end of the bed. The light behind her so we can't see her face all that well. She makes with the crazy talk,
DEMON-BUFFY: "What did you do? Do you know what you did? You're like children. Your hands smell of death. Bitches. Filthy little bitches rattling the bones. Did you cut the throat? Did you pat it's head?" She throws another glass knick-knack. "The blood dried on your hands, didn't it? You were stained, you still are. I know what you did."
Willow hops out of bed and flips on the light, but Buffy's gone and there's no broken glass in their bed. The witches peek into Buffy's room; she's asleep in bed. Back in their room, Tara suggests that they dreamt the incident but Willow reminds her, "Different brains." Tara asked Willow if she understand what *it* was talking about. Willow says she "understood the words..." (right, like we don't know it was talking about the fawn incident.) Willow doesn't get the chance to finish her sentence because Tara gasps, they turn to look at the wall. The pictures on the wall rattle, and we catch a glimpse of something crawling under the surface, bubbling it up. Willow goes to call Xander.
Anya and Xander are in bed. Xander is sleeping, but Anya can't. She talks to Xander and bugs him to wake up, but he doesn't until the phone rings. As he reaches for the phone, Anya climbs out of bed. Willow explains that something attacked them, and Xander suggests they get out of the house. In the background, Anya is walking back into toward the bedroom. Suddenly we see a close-up of Anya. (It was really creepy) She lets out an evil giggle and slashes her face open with a knife; her eyes are all white, no pupils. Anya laughs a little more, and then slumps to the floor when Xander snatches the knife away. We see that now her face is uncut. The bubble from the Summers' house glides along under the carpet and then out of the room. (I was confused how it could it be at Buffy's and then suddenly at Xander's but I guess demons can do anything.)
Next day. Xander, Anya, Willow, and Tara are sitting in the sun in the Summers' back yard. Xander exclaims, "Very bad. Very, very, very bad. Bad!" (It's not just bad, it's awful. How could you let Anya out of the house wearing a floral blouse and pinstriped pants? Oh, he was talking about the other horror. The one that visited in the night.) Anya suggests that the entity is a "hitchhiker" that caught a ride on Buffy's soul as it was released from Hell. She frankly concludes that it was a bad idea to bring Buffy back. They discuss whether they can kill the entity, and then Buffy arrives on the scene. Tara asks if she feels okay, but Buffy ignores the question. Anya informs her that she brought a demon back from Hell with her, but Willow assures Buffy she needn't worry. Slowly, with difficulty, Buffy explains how the photographs the night before changed to look like "dead bodies." The Scoobies are so happy to have Buffy back. Buffy just says, "We should get to work."
AT THE MAGIC SHOP -- The gang plus Dawn are doing research on demons that can ride between dimensions. They have a short list of suspects, but aren't sure where to begin. Willow is trying to make a plan when Buffy says, "I miss Giles." Willow tells Buffy that Giles is coming back, but Buffy just stands up and says she's going to patrol. She doesn't want anyone to come with her. As she walks out, Dawn calls after her,
DAWN: "You should go. I'll be safe here with the others. Don't worry about me."
Then we get a close-up of Dawn's face. Her eyes are all white & she has a creepy smile.
Buffy walks through the graveyard past an angel statue, pausing momentarily so that it appears she has wings.
Anya comes in to the Magic Shop, bearing coffee from somewhere that used to be a bookstore, added a coffee bar, and is now just a coffee place. She pronounces it "like evolution, only without the getting-better part." She helps out the coffee, and the hot chocolate for Dawn who is "too young for coffee." Demon-Dawn turns towards Anya and hisses, "Idiot!" Anya quickly backpedals that Dawn can have her coffee.
DEMON-DAWN: "All of you did it, you stupid children. Did you think the blood wouldn't reach you? I smell the death on you. Look at what you've done!" Demon-Dawn spits fire. (How does being possessed by a demon suddenly give you the ability to do things that are anatomically impossible? Some people on the forums have speculated that it's left over from Dawn being *the key* but I don't buy it.) The books that the Scoobies were perusing catch on fire. Xander deals with the fire while Tara and Willow deal with an unconscious Dawn. Dawn wakes up, disoriented, and the Scoobies wonder where the demon is headed next.
Spike is pacing in his crypt. He hits the wall and ends up with bloody knuckles. Spike hears a noise from upstairs and, grabbing a weapon, he goes to check it out. Upstairs, he finds Buffy, staring off into the distance. Buffy notices that Spike's hand is injured. "Hmm," he muses, "Same to you." Buffy seems to be uncomfortable at this reminder and hides her hands behind her back. Spike tries to make some small talk, inviting Buffy to take a seat. He sits across from her and gets down to business. He haltingly tells her that he hasn't forgotten his promise to protect Dawn and then says,
SPIKE: "I do remember what I said, the promise to protect her. If I'd have done that. Even if I didn't make it, you wouldn't have had to jump. But I want you to know I did save you. Not when it counted of course, but after that. Every night after that... I see it all again. I do something different. Faster. More clever. Dozens of times, lots of different way. Every night I save you."
At the Magic Shop-- Xander starts to wonder if Spike was right; he asks Tara if she knew of any possible consequences of the resurrection spell. He wonders if there were any way that anyone could have known. (subtle) Tara immediately and vehemently defends Willow, saying that she's a gifted witch who wouldn't "do anything to hurt anyone." (Dude. Remove the love goggles and tell it to Bambi's cold and rotting corpse.) Xander verbally retreats from Tara's outburst, but they're interrupted by Willow's research breakthrough. Tara and Xander join her at the counter as she quickly explains to everyone that the resurrection spell didn't release a demon but, in fact, created one. Willow clarifies that the demon is the "price" of getting Buffy back. Dawn doesn't understand, so Willow says that they asked for the "gift" of Buffy back, but the universe made them take the demon too.
ANYA: "Well, technically that's not a price. That's a gift with purchase."
DAWN: "But if we made the demon, how come we can't see it? All we see is us, doing stuff."
WILLOW: "It's out of phase with this dimension. Its consciousness is here but it's body is caught in the ether of exiting and not-existing.
TARA: "It doesn't have a body, so it's borrowing ours."
WILLOW: "Or it's manifesting copies of them, like it did with Buffy."
Xander wants to know how they can get rid of the demon, since it seems to be stuck here without a body, but Willow warns that if they send it away, it would be as if they had never done the spell in the first place. At this news, Dawn becomes agitated.
DAWN: "If you think you can give her back to me, and then take her away again? You can't mess with people's lives this way."
Willow reassures Dawn that they're not going to send Buffy back. Dawn turns on the other Scoobs, demanding, "How can you let her do this?"
Tara and Xander both assure Dawn that they'll find a solution. Willow's attention is drawn back to her book, and she grins happily because she discovered that the demon is only temporary. In fact, the only way that it can get it can stay, is if it kills Buffy. Immediately, Xander's eyes go white and he growls,
DEMON-XANDER: "Thanks for the tip." (Stupid demon. If he hadn't said anything, they would not have been able to figure out his plan in time.)
Buffy comes home, ascends the stairs, a mist following behind her. (So first it's a bubble and now it's demons in the mist? I don't get it.)
Buffy walks into her room. "You don't belong here," the demon, growls at her. She tries to throw a punch at it, but since demon isn't *solid* it doesn't get her anywhere. That, however, doesn't stop the demon from being able to push Buffy around. (Which makes no sense.) The misty-demon knocks Buffy into the wall of the hallway. She walks back into the room, but none of her punches or grabs connect with the demon, who mocks her some more. (A smarter demon would possess Buffy and then have her commit suicide. Or would the demon die from that too? Hmm.) The demon attacks Buffy, but it looks more like it's giving her a hug from behind.
A quick scene of Xander, Anya, and Dawn in the car, only to establish that they are on the way to Buffy's.
Back the Magic Shop -- Willow and Tara are seated, holding hands over a whole bunch of candles. They chant. Their spell is to make the beastie more solid so that Buffy can actually fight it. Buffy breaks free from the demon. He smacks her onto the bed so hard that she rolls off of it. Willow and Tara chant some more.
Buffy grabs an axe from under her bed and ineffectually bats at the demon. But it does not accomplish anything since the demon is still mist at this point. (I would have reached for the vacuum cleaner.) Xander, Anya, and Dawn stumble into the room. Buffy immediately orders them to take Dawn away.
Tara is chanting. Willow has gotten impatient, she's not chanting anymore. Her eyes are closed, and she begins to glow. Tara trails off as Willow's head snaps back and her jet-black eyes look towards the ceiling. "Solid," she commands.
In Buffy's room, the demon changes from mist to solid form. Buffy briefly struggles with it before neatly chopping off its head, which rolls under the bed.
DAWN: "That's probably the sort of thing I'm not supposed to see, right?"
The next morning, Dawn is leaving for school; she gets about halfway down the front walk before Buffy calls after her. Buffy hands Dawn her lunch, and Dawn is absolutely touched. Buffy warns Dawn that she better get to school because...
BUFFY: "Those of us who fail history are doomed to repeat it in summer school."
Dawn tenderly hugs her big sis and searchingly asks Buffy if she's okay.
BUFFY: "I'm going to start charging money to every person that asks me that."
Dawn explains that it's just because everyone cares about her so much.
DAWN: "It was bad when you were gone. But it'll be better now. Now that they can see you being happy." Buffy just blinks until Dawn goes on her way.
At the Magic Shop, Willow and Tara are putting books back on the shelves when Buffy comes in. The gang makes nervous small talk. Buffy starts to say her piece.
BUFFY: "You brought me back. I was in..." and a small flick downward of her eyes belies her words. "...I was in hell... It felt like the world abandoned me there. You guys gave me the world. I can't tell you what it means to me."
Willow gets a huge smile on her face and nervously rushes over to Buffy to hug her. They're quickly joined by Xander, who wraps his arms around them both. The Scoobies don't notice, but Buffy squeezes her eyes shut as if to blink back tears.
Buffy steps outside the side door of the shop, into a very bright and sunny alley. In the shadow of the building, Spike sits on a crate. He says he was going to go in until he heard the *special moment* and it made him queasy. Buffy takes a seat next to him, explaining that she just wanted some time alone. He gets up to leave, but is stopped by the sun. (Which makes no sense, because he must have had some way to get there in the first place.) Buffy tells him that he can stay, because she is able to "be alone with you here." Spike returns to sit next to her and tells her that he'll be there for her if she needs him to be.
SPIKE: "Buffy, if you're in pain, if you need anything or if I can do anything for you..."
BUFFY: "You can't."
SPIKE: "Well, I haven't been to a hell dimension just of late, but I do know a thing or two about torment."
BUFFY: "I was happy. Wherever I was, I was happy. At peace." Spike looks at her in confusion. "I knew everyone I cared about was alright. I knew it. Time didn't mean anything. Nothing had form, but I was still me, you know. I was warm and I was loved and I was finished. Complete. I don't understand theology or dimensions. Any of it really. But I think I was in heaven." Another shot of Spike, just staring at her. "And now I'm not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out by my friends. Everything here is hard. And bright. And violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch...this is hell. Just getting through the next moment, and the one after that. Knowing what I've lost." Buffy glances at Spike and realizes that she might have said too much. She quickly rises to leave, but stops a few steps later and without turning around says, "They can never know. Never," before continuing to walk down the street.
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